Gaming Skills

Brent had hated the results of the Great Shift. Swapping into the body of a middle aged woman was bad enough, but realizing his gaming skills in this body were terrible made it that much worse. At first, he tried to blame it in the fact that he wasn’t used to the fatter fingers or the nails; he told himself he’d get used to the differences of his new body. But months passed, and he was still terrible at games he once dominated at.

He began to come up with other theories. Maybe the fact that she was older was a factor; maybe these fingers just couldn’t move in the way his younger ones could. Of course, his friends online joked it was because “girls just naturally suck at gaming.” The comment made him angry, especially once they started to get vulgar. He was more determined than ever to show them that he could still play.

A Good Laugh

As Andre tried to explain the body swap to his girlfriend shortly after it happened, he wasn’t sure if she was laughing because she believed him or because she didn’t.

If she believed him, she was certainly amused that her boyfriend was now stuck in the body of some old, white lady from the suburbs. If she didn’t, she was certainly getting a kick out of seeing what she thought was an old, white lady under a delusion about being a 25-year-old black man (and her boyfriend).

Andre wished she would at least stop laughing so hard to explain which one it was.

Same Old Game

It didn’t take long for Malik to realize he had absolutely zero game after the body swap. One would think being in the body of a sixty year woman would kill the young man’s libido; it did not.

But after a few immediate rejections, he tried a different strategy. He began to play up being a helpless old woman, and it did open a few doors. Plenty of young women were willing to engage in conversation, but that was about it.

Asking for a phone number to set up a date got reactions that ranged from eyerolls to laugher to just plain confusion. He couldn’t wait to get his own body back!

Inexperienced

Ron was still a fairly inexperienced driver at 19 years old, getting his license fairly late in the course of things. He didn’t see the woman on her bike, and it was a moment of shock when he hit her. Of course, it was even weirder when his own soul seemed to drift from the driver’s seat of the car and into the body of the woman.

It didn’t make any sense that he had become this woman! Her body didn’t seem injured by the impact in the slightest, which meant the only effect was the fact that he was now the one inhabiting her body -- which just didn’t make any sense whatsoever!

After several minutes of sitting on the curb and just being stressed about everything, he thought to check on his own body. This felt even stranger. It sat lifeless in the driver’s seat, and nothing he could do seemed to wake it up.

Cooler

“Oh, thank God! Jake! I’ve been looking all over for you! But I think you’ve been skipping your classes, and they don’t let you into the dorms without a Student ID!”

Jake was a little put off by the woman who had approached him at the bar. She had to be like 50 years old and rambling in some sort of crazy manner.

“I’m sorry,” Jake asked, “Do I know you?”

“It’s me!” The woman replied, “Your roommate! Max! This woman stole my body, like, three days ago!”

It seemed crazy, but Jake had noticed Max had been acting different these last few days. That being said, it’s not like he felt it was for the worse. The new Max actually seemed cooler, and what did Jake even know about helping someone with a body swapping problem anyway?

Love

Benjamin had an amazing life before the Great Shift. He had a high paying job in tech with a really hot girlfriend -- and he was quite a good looking guy, too.

The Great Shift changed all that when he swapped into a new body along with most other people on the planet. He hated becoming a woman; he hated being older. His girlfriend let him borrow clothes that had looked hot on her body, but he felt like they just exposed the liver spots on his new skin.

And his girlfriend wound up his body, so she was a fairly good looking man -- which felt somewhat arrogant for him to say, but...eh?

And one day he told her, “I’d understand if you left me.”

She just came up close to him and put her arm around him and said, “I love you no matter what you look like...”

Separate Attempts

Brian though his neighbor Esther looked good for her age, considering she was in her 60s. He just wished he wasn’t the one currently inhabiting her body due to the swap between them.

Luckily, they both seemed fairly committed to swapping back. And inside Esther’s home studio, they both set about their own methods for doing so. Brian had gathered a bunch of wires and parts on the table. He knew enough about these things; he was sure he could build some sort of device to get them back to normal.

But progress was slow as he turned to look at Esther in the corner in his body. She was meditating in his 25 year old mal body. He thought it looked silly, and he was even more skeptical that a spiritual hippie solution was the way to go here, but at least she was trying something -- though she was no closer to getting them swapped back than he was.

Going the Distance

As a courier, Curtis was used to walking long distances, but he wasn’t use to doing so in heels and with a body that was several decades older than his own and not nearly as in good shape -- and not to mention female!

He had been bringing a package to a lawyer’s office in midtown when the Great Shift happened, leaving him stuck in the body of one of the attorney’s, an Asian woman in her 50s who lived in the suburbs. After a few moments of pure confusion, news reports came in online about the body swapping event. People were advised to head home if possible or stay put if not.

The subways were down, so any transit would have to be on foot. The walk back to the Bronx was a long one for Curtis, but he told himself he was used to it. Unfortunately, his present body wasn’t. Yet he still pushed on -- even with pinched feet and pure exhaustion. And as much as he hurt right now, he told himself being back in his apartment would make him feel so much better.

What Do We Do?

Simon squinted as he looked over to see what looked like his own body standing nearby on the street. He squinted harder. It didn’t just look his own body, it was his own body. And as for his current body...

“What the hell?” He asked, “I’m a woman?”

“A 40 year old woman,” His own body responded.

“Did you do this?”

“No, but I’m also not complaining either. It’s nice being young again, even if I am a guy.”

“We’ve got to tell people! We’ve got to fix this!”

“Do you have any idea HOW to fix this? Because I don’t. But I do know that if I show up like this and try to explain things to my husband, he’ll call the cops...or the looney bin.”

“So what do we do?”

“Well, for starters, you should continue my morning jog. You’d regret skipping my daily exercise once you start putting on the pounds, trust me. Then, I guess, we just pretend to be each other as best we can...”

Find Me at the Club...

Our eyes met at the club. I could feel the instant connection between us, and we began grinding together on the dance floor. I don’t know how long we did that for; it was probably at least twenty minutes to a half hour. The entire time something felt a little bit off. That feeling kept growing, but it was hard to place. A complaint about her arthritis and it suddenly kicked in. Despite her youthful style, she was old -- much older than you would ever expect at a club.

But she wasn’t the only one who was off. I looked down at myself. Instead of a flat chest and a bulge in my crotch, there was a bulge in my chest and a flat crotch.

But as I looked around the club, I realized my gender change and her age change were actually mild compared to other club goers. I swear I saw one person with an elephant trunk instead of a nose and another with an extra set of arms instead of legs. And everyone was weirdly calm about all of it.

The Wait

Jared had been waiting for six hours on this bench in the park. The lights were starting to come on for the night. He had gone from telling himself that Mrs. Wong was running late to telling himself that something must have happened.

What he didn’t want to think about was that she might’ve just decided to run off with his body. No, she wouldn’t do that, would she? Granted, his own body was twenty years younger and in excellent health, but she wouldn’t want to be a guy, would she? Well, he certainly didn’t want to be a woman! And he didn’t want to stay stuck as Mrs. Wong!

No, something must have happened on her way. Maybe his body was in the hospital, or maybe she got an emergency call from his work. She could still show up and second now, and they could figure out how to swap back! That was yet another problem; they still had no idea how to swap back! That was going to be what they were going to talk about!

Disturbia (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Disturbia.

Patrick arrived back at Cheryl’s suburban home to a very unpleasant surprise -- her husband had arrived home early from his business trip. He seemed friendly enough at first, but as the night went on, it got creepier.

He supposed the questions started out innocently enough. Her husband asked Patrick about why he hadn’t changed out of his work clothes, and Patrick had hoped he wouldn’t have to. He had planned to sleep in Cheryl’s clothes and go back to work the next morning wearing the exact same thing. With her husband around, that might be a more challenging plan. Then he started to get all handsy; it was making Patrick very uncomfortable, even as he kept telling himself that this guy just thought he was being friendly with his wife.

Patrick began to wonder if he should tell Cheryl’s husband what was up. Sure, it would ruin everyone’s bonus, but someone else was likely to fess up as well, right? He wouldn’t be the only one? And even if he was, the cost might be worth it to get this guy’s hands off of him.

Disturbia (Part 1)

It had to be the weirdest day at work that Patrick could recall. Technically, he was still just an entry level employee, but he had swapped bodies with one of the managers -- a middle aged blonde woman by the name of Cheryl. She had been nice enough to give him a sweatshirt to cover up, as he felt quite exposed by the sleeveless white dress she had chosen to wear that day.

The company researchers promise to have everyone back in the right body tomorrow, and the lawyers promised a big bonus if everyone could keep a secret. An so Patrick found himself on a commuter train back to the suburbs that night. Cheryl had given him a rundown of anything he might need to know.

Though she had two kids, they were both off to college already, and fortunately her husband was out of town on a business trip. Patrick told her about his crappy apartment in the City with the roommate he never talks to. He was hoping for a very uneventful evening and that the swap back would happen first thing in the morning.

One-on-One Lessons

Practice for the college football team started that day mostly like normal, though the middle aged woman running out onto the field raised more than a few questions.

She approached the coach, and he asked the obvious question, “Who the hell are you?”

“It’s Jack O’Connor,” The woman said, “I guess there’s the thing called Swap Class that’s a requirement for graduation.”

“Jesus, O’Connor! That’s a freshman class! You should’ve gotten it out of the way three years ago! Why are you just getting around to it now!? And none of that explains why you’re in the body of a forty year old!”

“Well, yeah, it sort of does. See, because I didn’t know about it, I ended up in a one-on-one class. There was no one else to swap with, so I swapped with the professor, Mrs. Chambers.”

“Well, let me talk with the administration and see what I can do. We certainly can’t have you running around the field like this!”

Sanctuary

Many of us gathered in the church after the Great Shift. I don’t think many of us were all that religious, and after the Shift, there were probably more people questioning their faith than ever. But it was a good meeting place to gather or talk or whatever.

I think I had come to find company for my misery. I had swapped into the body of my neighbor. She was at least twenty years older than I was and obviously a woman. Before coming, I tried to find more comfortable clothes. She had a son just a little younger than me, who had recently gone off to college. I was able to put on one of his basketball jerseys he left behind. All of his pants fit awkwardly, so I had to keep wearing my neighbor’s skirt.

I don’t think I spoke to anyone once I arrived. I just sat there, feeling uncomfortable in my new skin. I wasn’t sure if I was more bothered by new gender or new age more, or if I was annoyed with myself for even considering going out with this body to be a good idea...

At His Age

The Great Shift was like a nightmare for Thad. He had always prided himself on his strength and his muscles. He had gone from being a very fit man in his 20s to a very weak woman in her late 60s. Every day he would go to the gym to workout and lift weights, but it never felt like he was getting any stronger. Even the small weights were tough to lift, and moving up seemed impossible.

However, despite the feeling that his gym visits were now worthless, they apparently had a benefit he didn’t realize. When he was for his annual physical, his doctor informed him that all the exercise was keeping his body’s extreme sarcopenia at bay. In essence, even if he wasn’t getting any stronger at least wasn’t getting any weaker.

He sat for a moment, thinking at least his effort wasn’t a waste, but still sad he wouldn’t be able to bulk up. Then his doctor started lecturing him about how coming in sooner. After all, with his new age, the muscle loss wasn’t the only problem.

...And Now You're Even Older (Part 2)

View Part 1.

It was a few months after the Shift when John finally met up with his old body. It turned out to be a simple one-to-one swap. Just as he was in the body of a woman named Li, Li was now the one in his body. Of course, when Li arrived and saw John, she barely recognized her former self.

The first words out of her mouth were basically, “What the hell did you do to my face!?”

John did his best to smile with the latest Botox injections still fresh. “I found myself in a body more than twice my own age. I went through a period of extreme depression. It was all recommended by a psychiatrist to help me feel young.”

“But you don’t look young, you just look --” Li caught herself. She could only imagine what this young man had gone through upon finding himself in her body. She had to stop herself from being too hard on him. Yet she had to ask, “What about the boob job?”

John seemed to eke out a laugh, but his face didn’t really move to do so. “That’s a long story,” He replied, “It wasn’t easy becoming a woman either, of course. And I thought about going the other way with the surgery there. Instead, I leaned into it.”

You're Older Than You've Ever Been... (Part 1)

John had woken up late for his first class of the day. He didn’t have time to brush his teeth before he was out of his dorm and sprinting through campus. When the flash of light hit him, he thought he must have tripped or something. However, he was technically still on his feet -- well, not HIS feet, but still standing, nonetheless.

John had no reason to know there was a playground so close to the college; what reason did he have to go there? Yet that’s where he stood now. In someone else’s body.

He looked at his feminine hands. He was not only female but also older judging by the looks of them. Was he a mom? A grandma? A nanny? But he looked around and didn’t see any kids. Maybe she was just passing nearby too? None of that explained why he was in her body now, of course. He’d have to find out the news about the Great Shift in due time...

Pilates and Yoga (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Pilates and Yoga.

James was mid-squat when his frat brothers returned from their game. They were early, and he had hoped to be completed with his exercise before they got back. Then he noticed Kevin was hurt, which is probably why it all ended so soon.

James had always hoped Kevin would give him some sympathy. After all, Kevin also swapped into a woman’s body -- although one that was still college aged -- and often struggled with physical activity due to his new petite build.

And yet, even with an injured ankle, Kevin was the first one to make a crack about James. “The whale’s about to get up,” Kevin laughed before screaming in pain as one of the guys in pre-Med started pushing one of Kevin’s bones back into place.

“I’m just wrapping up, no need for insults. I know how stupid I look,” James sighed.

“Naw, you don’t, but we’ll send pictures,” Another frat brother, Max, teased.

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